LAS VEGAS – Dana White was nearly a singular witness to the events that moved the UFC from a renegade sport 25 years ago to one that was staged at the White House this year.
Saturday night, a mass of eyewitnesses were with him inside T-Mobile Arena as his company’s entry into boxing moved massive steps toward substantial unions with two fighters perhaps poised to rule for several years to come.
A second-round knockout victory by WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia and a ninth-round stoppage triumph by White’s Zuffa Boxing’s cruiserweight boss, Jai Opetaia, that lured the unbeaten, three-division champion David Benavidez into the ring are sea-changing events that could boost the first-year promotion to remarkable heights.
Garcia joked that a potential Cinco de Mayo doubleheader card of Benavidez-Opetaia along with a Garcia-Teofimo Lopez welterweight unification would “break the Internet and be one of the highest-selling double features ever.”
And break the bank, too.
In advancing the UFC, White first learned the organization would be for sale and quietly nudged his longtime friend and casino/hotel owner Lorenzo Fertitta to buy the company for $2 million, ultimately crafting a critical,l ate-night cable deal on a napkin following a landmark fight to develop an organization that sold for $4 billion in 2016.
Saturday night’s Zuffa Boxing advancements were also plotted out:
First, the company invested deepest this year in talented cruiserweights like Opetaia, Chris Billam Smith and Ryan Rozicki to help catch the eye of three-division champion Benavidez, 32-0 (26 KOs), who captured the WBA/WBO 200lbs belts in his Cinco de Mayo appearance this year.
Second, Zuffa successfully positioned to be the lead promoter of Saturday’s card, gaining the opportunity to connect all week with Garcia.
The timing was impeccable. Benavidez becomes a free agent following one more bout with promoter Sampson Lewkowicz and Premier Boxing Champions, which is earmarked for December in his native Arizona.
And Garcia has just one more fight in his longtime union with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
“I was very, very impressed [with White and Zuffa]. They did one of the best jobs with coordinating things,” Garcia said. “I love their process. I know I sound like I’m glazing, but they were on top of everything: the media, how they promote… let’s just say I’m very impressed.”
Benavidez, 29, exuded that won-over feeling as well, gladly attending the bout, expressing respect and embracing unbeaten Opetaia, 31-0 (24 KOs), in the ring and espousing excitement for an anticipated superfight.
White said in the post-fight news conference how fondly he feels for the power, talent and charisma of Benavidez, who also currently wears the WBC light-heavyweight belt and projects to fight in the sport’s glamour division, as a heavyweight.
Asked if he feels comparisons between UFC’s infancy and Zuffa’s, which is strongly backed by Saudi Arabia money and a Paramount+ streaming deal, White told BoxingScene, “Being eight or nine months into this [Zuffa Boxing] thing and being here for a night like this… every day we go into the office, one day at Zuffa Boxing is like a month with how much shit we get done.
“It’s actually pretty fascinating, and like I keep saying, we’re a couple years ahead of where I thought we might be. So imagine where we’ll be in a couple years.”
The shine on the 28-year-old Garcia, 28-2 (21 KOs), grew to blinding considering how he flattened Benn less than halfway through the second round.
When asked if he’s the new face of boxing, Garcia said, “You’ve got to say so. I’ll hold that as high as I can and try to be the best face of boxing I can be. I’m going to continue maturing, and continue evolving. I feel a deeper level of responsibility with the win.
“The passing of the torch comes naturally. Give me that torch. I’m ready to fight everybody. Can’t wait for the future.”
Producing that type of victory with fellow welterweight champions Teofimo Lopez (WBA) and rival and WBO titlist Devin Haney sitting ringside whets the appetite for all that’s to come in a division that has witnessed so much greatness over time.
“I’ve definitely got the golden ticket,” Garcia said. “If they want to come get it, we’ll decide who we give the golden ticket to. We’re Willy Wonka in here. Now they’ll get the main dish for Cinco de Mayo. You’ll see me do amazing things.”
Garcia, in walking to the ring alongside Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera and WWE Latino superstar Rey Mystero, saw a parade of Mexican flags flying for his first title defense following a 2023-2025 stretch that featured two losses, a PED positive and a year-long suspension.
“I hope I gain the trust of the people now. I know I had an up and down career. Now that everything has settled in, I’ve matured, I’ve grown, and as a world champion, they can trust me,” Garcia said.
“People really do love me. They understand me. I’m with them. You’re going to see the American style and Mexican style of boxing. I have way more weapons in my arsenal I haven’t brought out yet.”
Part of that maturity was seen when Garcia revealed promoter De La Hoya was supposed to walk with him to the ring and no-showed. White insisted he didn’t block De La Hoya from the arena given their years-long social-media feud.
“They told me he had a seat and I was going to walk out with him. I thought that’d be iconic. Everybody was asking where [De La Hoya] was [all fight week], and him walking out would be special,” Garcia said. “It is what it is. I’m here just to do my job.”
While White and Benn have much to reassess about Zuffa’s deep investment into the Briton’s future, a three-punch surge by Opetaia on WBC cruiserweight champion Noel Mikaelian ended that fight swiftly in the ninth round.
Stripped IBF champion Opetaia didn’t need the belt to convince Benavidez he’s target No. 1 among cruiserweights, but White admitted that the allegiance of several fighters to pursuing belts distributed by the WBC, WBO, WBA and IBF has re-shaped his views of the sanctioning bodies. He said he’ll be more open to having Zuffa work alongside them and it’s conceivable the Benavidez-Opetaia bout will be for three belts.
“We’re moving into a better place with the sanctioning organizations, but as far as Jai and Benavidez – belts or no belts – we all know they’re the two bad-asses of the division,” White said. “Jai is in a great position, so is Benavidez. So are we and the fans.”
White had a long-ago encounter with a young Benavidez, the self-described “fat kid” telling the UFC president he was committed to becoming a champion fighter.
White spent 15 minutes with Benavidez, a detail the champion shared with White years later at another accidental run-in with White at a Fertitta resort.
Judging by his predictions, Garcia can see where this is all going, saying he’ll knock out three-division champion Lopez “by the seventh or eighth.”
What about Benavidez-Opetaia?
“I’m going to give the edge to David,” Garcia said. “I think David beats him, probably fairly easy.”
